Summary
The surface of the organ of Corti from normally hearing adult humans has been examined with the scanning electron microscope. It is possible to construct cytocochleograms and to derive a regression line with confidence limits to represent the distribution of the sensory hair cells. Examining individual hair cells more closely, the number of cilia on each hair cell, decreased linearly with distance, from the base of the cochlea. However, the length of the longest cilia on each outer hair cell increased linearly with distance.
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This work has been supported by grants from the Medical Research Council of Great Britain and by the Mersey Regional Health Authority
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Wright, A. Scanning electron microscopy of the human cochlea — The organ of Corti. Arch Otorhinolaryngol 230, 11–19 (1981). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00665375
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00665375